Monthly account charge: Four different monthly fees between £7.50 and £40 depending on monthly cash deposit withdrawal limits (you can choose from £1,000 to £10,000).

Key benefits:

Up to 18 months of free day-to-day banking.

0.1 per cent gross AER on any credit balances.

Arranged overdraft of up to £25,000.

The account offers up to 18 months of free banking to customers in their first year of trading - as long as they have no more than two directors, owners or partners.

While 12 months free comes as standard, account holders who become a 1|2|3 World or Santander Select customer will get an extra six months of free banking.

The account can be managed at Santander cash machines and participating Post Offices branches nationwide, as well as through online and mobile banking.

Interest is paid at 0.1 per cent gross AER on any credit balances.

The small print

After this free business banking period, you'll automatically see your account revert to the 'Business Bank Account', which has a £7.50 monthly charge.

This will allow you to deposit up to £1,000 in cash per month and includes all your standard day-to-day banking. If you go over your monthly cash deposit limit, you'll pay 50p per £100 cash deposited.

Each monthly fee also includes all other standard transactions, which are unlimited, such as cheque deposits, Bacs direct credits, debit card payments, standing orders, direct debits, bill payments, and cash withdrawals (at Santander or LINK network machines) which are limited to £500 per day.

You can apply for a business overdraft with the account and - if accepted - borrow from £500 to £25,000. An arranged overdraft comes with an annual fee of 1 per cent, with a minimum fee of £50.

Santander, which has Jessica Ennis as a brand ambassador, offers up to 18 months of free banking to customers in their first year of trading

'Best Tariff Promise' for businesses with up to £2million turnover with a business current account.

This account is available to businesses with turnover of less than £500,000. It offers 18 months of free banking, so there’s no maintenance fee or charges applicable to its standard tariff to pay.

After the free 18 months, account holders move to a fixed price period, which costs £5.50 per month for 12 months.

There is a free knowledge centre which offers tips and advice for growing your business.

There is a choice between two tariff options, 'Small Business' and 'Electronic Banking' once the free-period is up, and a 'Best Tariff Promise' which means the bank reviews your account each year to make sure you are are on the cheapest tariff.

The small print

In the fixed price year, you will be able to deposit a maximum of £3,000 in cash per month, with a charge of 50p per £100 levied after that.

When the fixed price period ends, you’ll move onto the tariff that you choose when you open your account and pay an account maintenance fee of £5.50 per month plus charges depending on the services you use.

The 'Electronic Banking' plan is for businesses that prefer to use telephone or internet banking. It also costs £5.50 per month.

When the fixed price period is up, the two tariffs still cost £5.50 a month, but more of the services under the 'Small Business' tariff come with a fee, such as withdrawing cash at branch or from an ATM.

The cash paid in through a branch costs 0.60 per cent under the 'Small Business' tariff and one per cent of value deposited with the 'Electronic Banking' tariff.

Depositing cheques through branches costs 30p and 40p respectively.

ATM cash withdrawals are free of charge under the 'Electronic Banking' tariff, but the bank levies a fee of 0.45 per cent on the amount withdrawn.

Those with a 'Small Business' tariff are charged 25p per withdrawal on top of 0.45 per cent of the value withdrawn.

The account offers 18 month free banking for firms in their first year of trading with a projected or existing annual turnover not exceeding £1 million.

If you applied for a £500 overdraft limit and were successful, there wouldn't be an arrangement fee for the first 12 months. Typically this would be £50. Unarranged borrowing through the current account will incur a fee.

Customers can also get NatWest's Business Credit Card fee free for the first 12 months (normally £32 per card issued).

The offer is open to those who make a NatWest Business Credit Card application within six months of opening the business current account.

The small print

A minimum monthly charge of £5.

Automated payments like direct debits, standing orders and ATM withdrawals come with a charge of 35p per item, while cash payments (cash paid in at branches and manual payments (cheques and other debits paid in branch) are levied at 70p per £100 and 70p per item respectively.

Barclays offers free banking for the first year to businesses less than a year old. This is less than others offer but its account comes with some interesting loyalty perks and a choice of fee structures depending on how you use it.

The 'Loyalty Reward' offers an increasing proportion of your charges back each month depending on how long you have held your account.

Customers of Barclay's business account receive an increasing proportion of their charges back each month depending on how long they've held their account

For example those with an annual turnover under £100,000 get 5 per cent back in years one to five, 10 per cent in years five to 15 and 15 back for anything over 15 years. The amounts also increase depending on the size of your business.

It comes with either a 'Mixed Payments' plan (£6) – for businesses that mainly use cash and cheques and an 'e-Payments' plan (£6.50) – for those more likely to do most of their banking online with electronic payments.

The small print

If you choose the 'e-Payments' option you won't pay anything to make electronic payments but cash and cheque payments cost £1.50 per £100.

The mixed plan charges 90p per £100 for cash payments, 65p for cheques and 35p for electronic payments.

There is a useful calculator on the site to help you find out which will be most cost effective for your business. It will also review your account each year and notify you if switching plan could save you money.

Digital only start-up accounts from start-up banks

The account, is the new kid on the block, having only launched in March this year, and is currently in testing phase.

It is restricted to limited company entrepreneurs who have a limited company and are the only person with significant control over it.

The bank says customers can download the app and apply for an account in minutes.

Micro businesses - those with 10 employees or less with turnover of less than £1.7million- are exempt from a monthly subscription charge.

Starling Bank also does not charge on electronic payments, domestic transfers, or ATM withdrawals.

The small print

Starling Bank has no branches and the account can only be opened through its smartphone app.

The account does not facilitate cash and cheques deposits at present, but there are plans to implement these features in the future.

To add funds to the account, users must transfer from another account.

Digital first: both Starling Bank and Tide allow customers to open a business account using their mobile phones within minutes

Customers whose business is larger than the definition of micro-enterprise will not be charged a monthly account keeping fee during the testing period, however will be charged a monthly fee in the future.

Arranged overdrafts are not available for this account but the firm said it might implement this in the future.

It charges 15 per cent on the overdrawn amount but waives interest charges less than 10p at the end of any given month.

Tide is a purely digital banking app which claims to allow customers to open an account in less than five minutes using their mobile phones.

Like with the Starling Bank business account, users are required to transfer cash from another account to add funds.

Tide says many of its members deposit these funds into other accounts and transfer them to their Tide accounts.

It boasts integrations with accountancy solution firms Xero and FreeAgent and allows users to automatically tag all income and expenditure with labels of their choice.

Tide customers can also get access to up to £150,000 from online lender iwoca through the account by answering three questions.

The small print

Like Starling Bank, Tide does not have any branches but you can open an account through its website or smartphone app.

Tide does not accept cash or cheques deposits at present but it aims to facilitate cash deposits in the 'near future.'

The company does not have a banking licence and is not covered by the FSCS. However, account balances are kept in a protected 'Safeguarding' account - meaning that they can never be loaned out to other customers.

The account charges 20p per transfer and £1 for cash withdrawals at ATMs.

The maximum account balance is £25,000 for sole traders and £100,000 for limited businesses.

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